Map of Bakken pipeline route from the Dakota Access website.
Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline held four demonstrations in Iowa on Tuesday.
They were part of a nationwide series of protests against the 1,200-mile-long project. Matt Ohloff , with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, spoke at an afternoon rally in downtown Des Moines.
“This is not a done deal,” Ohloff says. “There’s one permit left under the Army Corps of Engineers, under Lake Oahe, under the Missouri River, north of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.”
The pipeline company has asked for a court order allowing it to run the pipeline under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, after the Army Corps of Engineers said Monday it needed more time to study the issue. Iowa is one of four states on the pipeline route. Heather Pearson is a landowner in western Iowa who joined the rally outside the federal building in Des Moines.
“We need to hold our elected officials responsible for the decisions they’re making about our water and our air and our soil and our climate,” Pearson says. “We need to hold them accountable and the only way to do that is this right here! We need more people to join us on our direct action.” Protests were held Tuesday in all 50 states. The pipeline will cut across 18 Iowa counties. The Iowa Utilities Board says the pipeline is 90-percent complete in Iowa.
(Thanks to Michael Leland, Iowa Public Radio)